- Joined
- Aug 21, 2024
- Messages
- 63
I’m so sorry…this is the last one!
My camera finally picked up the color fairly accurately
Holy wow! That color is just unearthly!
I’m so sorry…this is the last one!
My camera finally picked up the color fairly accurately
Holy wow! That color is just unearthly!
It really is. It reminds me of why I paid such a stupidly high price for that sapphire
Honestly, I wasn’t even looking. It just fell into my lap. I dropped by a trade show that was passing through Bangkok while I was in town.
I was pretty firm with myself about not buying anything (best laid plans and all that…)
I was just there because it’s a great opportunity to catch up with friends from all over the globe.
…and then one of my Sri Lankan friends reached into his bag and said “bro, you gotta see this.”
Those are all incredible! The intensity of the one on the center is jaw-dropping!
…and the one to the far right has an almost Kashmir-like hue,
Can you tell us more about these stunners?
You want me to talk about my sapphires?
The left one is a preloved treasure I scored from fellow PSer ilovegemstones. Unheated and at just over a carat, I never would've been able to afford it brand new. It's a fascinating gem - it's always blue aside from the times it shifts towards violet. It fluoresces red all throughout. It's also crazy photogenic.
The right one I bought from nutellakitty. It loves the sun. In shade you can definitely see the stone looks teal in one corner under a specific angle, and if you look through the pavilion the colour zoning is obvious. It's less than a carat. But it has a nice cut that maximises its good qualities so it looks like a million bucks, plus the flower setting has a firm grip on my heart. Genius design from nutellakitty.
The one in the centre is my soulmate, if such a thing were to exist in gem form. My husband spotted it at one of the local jewellery stores. Tricked me into going to see it (he promised we were going shopping for ingredients for chicken curry). And I could not unsee it.
You see, I'm sure you've often experienced how phone cameras help the blues. People like blue skies in their photos, after all, so everything blue gets a bump in saturation. This one sapphire doesn't get that. There isn't any more saturation to add to it. Back at the store, you put it next to any of the other sapphires and they just stop existing, they pale in comparison. Bought the other two sapphire rings after this one - both were met with initial disappointment because I was so used to seeing this crazy saturated blue, and had to give them a couple of days to develop my full appreciation for them.
It's a little over 2ct, heated of course, and with a bit of a darker body tone so it's more of a moody blue in low light. My HG blue sapphire would be something similar to this one, with colour saturation to match, and just a lighter blue. I'm not sure I'm ever going to find it at a price point I'm able to afford though. This one, I realise now, I was crazy lucky to find and get.
on a side note, one of my furballs also gets very curious about gems
I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to have that effect!@Dr_Diesel You're too flattering. The way you write this, one's gonna think this is the sapphire to rule all sapphires. It's not that spectacular. And I can promise the cut isn't at all perfect - I've added a backing to the setting to hide the window.
But you're also scaring me a bit with this talk. I don't see myself as being done buying blue sapphires. Not in the immediate future, I have some big expenses coming up over the next year, but after that... I do intend to hunt for that velvet blue. Surely it can't be that impossible to find it.
From the way you described it, the stone really captivated you.
In any case, I hope that using actual data and hard numbers was more useful than the impressionistic report that I gave in my last post.
As well he should! Give him a high five for me!It does! I'm just being realistic - as much as I love it, it's far from perfect. Now, your stone, the one in the black rhodium setting - I'd love to own one like that, someday. Maybe. If I'm lucky.
Data and numbers are always welcome (in fact, would you mind if I got hold of you on insta for future references and brain-picking?), but you should know that your impressionistic report made my husband swell up like a puffer fish for scoring the find.
Regarding Sapphire prices, I now have a little insight as to why the prices have gone crazy.
I’m aware of two factors:
(1) Chinese buyers with a lot of money are going straight to Sri Lanka and paying absurdly high prices for good stones, particularly unheated Royal Blues
(2) Exchange Rate!
Now this is a factor that I didn’t even consider until a friend pointed it out.
I the past 2 years, the USD to Sri Lankan Rupee has become less favorable.
In January 2023, 1 USD would buy 360+ LKR. Today, you would need $1.23 to buy the same 360 LKR.
Thats a 23% price increase based on exchange rate alone
So a $4000/ct stone less than 2 years ago would be $4920/ct today - even if the price in Sri Lanka hasn’t changed at all.
If that’s a 5-ct stone, the price tag in Sri Lanka would be 7.3 Million LKR.
2 years ago, you could exchange $20k and get that 7.3M
Today, you would need to trade $24,600 to get the same 7.M LKR.
Does that make sense?
This is so interesting, @Dr_Diesel ! Thank you for posting! My husband bought me a Sri Lankan unheated sapphire from Jeff White a couple of years ago for a birthday, which I had set into a CVB ring.
This past July, I decided I wanted a smaller "sister" stone for a pendant project I am working on, so I contacted Jeff White. He had one stone that would work for me, and I could NOT believe the price per carat price increase! I'm normally over in RockyTalky and I was FLOORED!
I did order it and now I'm glad I did as I don't think I could afford it later! Lol. It is supposed to be ready mid-October, but I am unsure if Helene affected that timeline...
Here is my CVB ring. I don't think I ever added it to this wonderful thread!
This is so interesting, @Dr_Diesel ! Thank you for posting! My husband bought me a Sri Lankan unheated sapphire from Jeff White a couple of years ago for a birthday, which I had set into a CVB ring.
This past July, I decided I wanted a smaller "sister" stone for a pendant project I am working on, so I contacted Jeff White. He had one stone that would work for me, and I could NOT believe the price per carat price increase! I'm normally over in RockyTalky and I was FLOORED!
I did order it and now I'm glad I did as I don't think I could afford it later! Lol. It is supposed to be ready mid-October, but I am unsure if Helene affected that timeline...
Here is my CVB ring. I don't think I ever added it to this wonderful thread!
What a gorgeous sapphire!
That looks like something royalty might wear. So beautiful and so timeless! I can’t wait to see the next one!This is so interesting, @Dr_Diesel ! Thank you for posting! My husband bought me a Sri Lankan unheated sapphire from Jeff White a couple of years ago for a birthday, which I had set into a CVB ring.
This past July, I decided I wanted a smaller "sister" stone for a pendant project I am working on, so I contacted Jeff White. He had one stone that would work for me, and I could NOT believe the price per carat price increase! I'm normally over in RockyTalky and I was FLOORED!
I did order it and now I'm glad I did as I don't think I could afford it later! Lol. It is supposed to be ready mid-October, but I am unsure if Helene affected that timeline...
Here is my CVB ring. I don't think I ever added it to this wonderful thread!